Raw Ingredients

I have often wondered how all the events, experiences, gains, losses, pain and triumphs in life find each other and create something beautiful.

Something to bring hope, healing and encouragement.

Something to bring inspiration and happiness.

Something to leave as a legacy.

This wondering brings questions. Questions that spiral my mind.

Do I have to let go of all the pain, loss and hardship and only hang on to the joys and triumphs in order to be free?

Do I talk about it all or close the door and move on as if I am over it?

Will the process ever end?

Answers came last week when I had a few “raw” moments.

It is fascinating to me that in those moments, my daily readings addressed that very topic.

One of my favorite authors, Lysa Terkeurst, in her book “Seeing Beautiful Again”, used the analogy of the creation of a cake to bring clarity to my mind, heart and soul.

My summary is this: as we gather the ingredients for our cake, we have the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt. We have the yummy ingredients: sugar, butter and vanilla, possibly chocolate or coconut, and then we have the raw ingredients: eggs.

If I lay all the ingredients out and decide I don’t like some and walk away, the cake is not created. If I judge the dry ingredients and leave those out, it won’t rise. Or, I could say the raw ingredients are gross so I will leave those out.

Any of the above would result in… no cake.

Incomplete.

If we put ALL the ingredients together and mix them up, we create something new and delicious.

But it takes time, effort, patience and faith.

This analogy resonated in my soul and created a new intention.

My intention now is to meet my “raw” moments that are sure to come, with a picture of all my life ingredients in a big bowl being mixed and mixed to create my legacy.

The creation of a story that will bring hope and inspiration to others who may walk similar paths, a recipe for encouragement.

A creation of something beautiful.

A new paradigm.

A legacy.

Never doubt God’s power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream and exceed your wildest imagination.

Ephesians 3:20 TPT